You can’t cheat this game

Happy days are back! It is that time of the season where we take out our calculators to determine who is going down, who will be making the Top Eight bracket and, more importantly, who is winning the championship. It is exciting times and I’m sure everyone will agree with me that the season has reached the business end now. I think, looking at the log standings, what transpired in the last two games has changed a lot in terms of the standings, especially the chasing pack. I would like to believe that if we were to talk about the chasing pack, we’d be talking from number one to number six because the teams sitting sixth up to eighth have the same number of points (29) and are only separated by goal difference. As things stand, no one can really say it is obvious who is going to do what. Having said that, only time will tell who finishes where because I believe the Nedbank Cup games that are still coming will have a bearing on what happens in the league. This is exactly the way we want things to be, where we don’t have an outright winner or obvious relegation candidate, which keeps things exciting and interesting. We have two midweek fixtures and then continue on the weekend, which should paint an even clearer picture of what is to come. If one team manages to win two games on the trot, regardless of where they are, it will go a long way in enhancing their chances of achieving their goals. Imagine if Mamelodi Sundowns or Cape Town City win both their games? Imagine if one of them lose both games, as they will be playing against each other tonight (Wednesday)? You look at Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, who are on 36 points, with two games in hand for Sundowns, while Bidvest Wits is leading them with 38 points on the summit of the log table, with City occupying the fourth spot on 33 points. You have SuperSport United on 32, Kaizer Chiefs, Bloemfontein Celtic and Polokwane City on 29 points to complete the Top Eight so far. Simply put, there’s still a lot to play for and no one can safely claim anything as yet. Any game played from now on will be like a cup final for every team – that’s just how important the next few games are going to be. I think, based on the results, we might have something to say by the time we get to next week. We are not too sure who will be securing their place in the top half of the table because even that is still too close to tell, at this stage. You also look at the bottom half and you’ll realise that, as things stand, no one can claim to be safe from relegation from number 10 to 16 because it is still pretty much open. I must say some of the teams, especially in the bottom half, have a mountain to climb but will have themselves to blame for whatever comes out of their season. It is not going to be easy for some of them to move away from the relegation zone and it will only take strong character and mental strength to safeguard them. At this stage, it is no longer only in the hands of the coach and the technical team or players – you need all hands on deck and pulling in the same direction. Everyone, including the supporters, has an important role to play now. Let me take you back to Sundowns’ last two championship titles. They allowed their supporters to come into the stadium for free in their last few games. That, on its own, shows that they were rallying their 12th player behind them and ensuring that the visiting team feels like they are really playing away from home. At face value, this might not look important but, believe you me, it plays a huge role in the morale of the team to have their supporters filling up the stadium and outnumbering the visiting team. That’s the kind of support teams need, especially those in the bottom half. The question is, could the bottom half teams afford to let their supporters in for free? Much as they need the support, they also need the gate takings otherwise allowing people in for free would hit them hard in the pockets. So there’s no capacity and when I raised these things at the beginning of the season, it may have seemed as just another column, but I warned about the importance of preparation for any eventuality. This is the situation a lot of teams would have done a great deal of favour for themselves by avoiding. You don’t want to find yourself pressing the panic button and depending on other teams’ results, with your fate pretty much decided by other teams. It must be the worst situation to find yourself in, but proper planning and preparation is key to avoid this kind of a situation. Teams have sleepless nights now because relegation is starring them in the face, with the number of games getting smaller and smaller by the day. There’s so much pressure now with others fearing relegation, not making the Top Eight or possibly failing to win the league. It takes a lot of planning to avoid this and you can see from the beginning of the season which teams have a proper structure and planning. Losing players without adequate replacements isn’t proper planning. Acquiring talent that isn’t adequate to the demands of the Absa Premiership because you don’t want to pay decent salaries isn’t proper planning. If you don’t take care of the off-the-field stuff you will pay, and we have to be realistic and honest about these things. You want to compete with the best, you’ve got to be at your best. The so-called small teams get the best players because they want to compete. That means you can’t take short-cuts in this game otherwise you will be fighting relegation every season and that proves you’re just adding numbers in the league. You can’t cheat this game, you simply can’t.

On a new announcement

I will be launching the Doc Khumalo Sport Academy (DKSA) in the near future, but will provide you with all the details on this platform. I feel it is time for people like us, who have played the game and were supported by our communities, to take action and help develop our future stars.